


Try Again

by ImAGiraffacorn



Series: Mechtober 2020 [3]
Category: The Mechanisms (Band), Ulysses Dies at Dawn - The Mechanisms (Album)
Genre: F/M, Mechtober, Mechtober 2020, and dies, telemachos is mentioned, ulysses dies at dawn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:02:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27235435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImAGiraffacorn/pseuds/ImAGiraffacorn
Summary: In the twenty years they were together, Ulysses could never be sure what it was Penelope saw in them.
Relationships: Penelope/Ulysses (Ulysses Dies at Dawn)
Series: Mechtober 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1988512
Kudos: 4





	Try Again

In the twenty years they were together, Ulysses could never be sure what it was Penelope saw in them.

They were well aware of what they saw in Penelope (what everyone saw in Penelope). She was kind and sweet and caring. She was a genius, but more than that she was sharp of wit and tongue, and truly intelligent. She was proud and confident and would not hesitate to show it. She was brutally honest when she wanted to be, and was just as likely to tear you apart as she was to build you up. She had made just as many friends as enemies at school, but Ulysses was hard pressed to name anyone who actively hated her. Even those who would proclaim themselves her enemies gave her their grudging respect and admiration.

And somehow, in all the upheaval and fear and madness and chaos of starting university, growing into adulthood, living in the City, Ulysses had found her. Ulysses had befriended her. Ulysses had fallen in love with her. And Penelope had fallen in love with Ulysses in return.

They had gotten married. They had bought a small apartment, somewhere to call their own. Ulysses had gone on to groundbreaking psychological research. Penelope had become a professor of history. They had a son together. They should have been able to grow old together.

Instead, Ulysses had been asked to join the Ilium War. Telemachos had been threatened as leverage, and there was nothing Ulysses wouldn’t do for their son. They would tear down the world for their son. Not that it mattered. Telemachos had died not two weeks after the initial threat. A health complication, something entirely unrelated, but somehow even worse. The threat had shifted onto Penelope. They had already lost half of their world. They couldn’t afford to lose anything else. So Ulysses had gone to war.

They had been an idealist, once. They had wanted to make the world a better place. 

The idea was laughable, in retrospect. Turns out all it took to break their morals was the slightest bit of well-placed pressure and a bit of bad luck.

The war had taken the last of Ulysses’ spirit, broken it down to dust and scattered it upon the wind. They had come home to a shockingly empty house. Penelope was there in body, but her mind was even farther away than theirs.

It had taken years, but they had built each other back up. Piece by shattered piece, they had found each other and held each other tight through it all. There was no way to go back to who they had been, but they were doing their best to try again.


End file.
